Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For years now I have wanted a pet male tiger retic, but would never get one because of its size (I have children). Are these Dwarf retics truly smaller as adults? I saw on the bob clark website he has dwarf tigers. If they are truly dwarfes im getting one asap.

My male Jampea is 5 1/2 years old. The last time I weighed him he was 60 pounds on an empty stomach. What do you consider small?

Jim

tiger cross with jampea or super dwarf will still be a large snake if fed aggressively. My male kayuadis born 1/99 from kameran tepeldon of bushmaster herps import gravid females- who then sold the babies to pro exotics from whom i bought my 2.2 colony are large snakes- not giants.

ulike the last person to post, my males are now 9 ft but only 15-18 pounds. I fed them reasonably large meals weekly the first three years and now feed them every other week. they are tame as kittens when out as i handled them and trust them and they trust me. All Retics have a solid feeding response- you need to be experienced to avoid a feeding strike and wrap at all times when opening cages etc. i find (as an adult) these are managable. you reap what you sow so if you feed aggressively 2 x a week for 5-6 years, or if you feed large prey items as soon as they can take larger food on a weekly basis you will grow larger animals.

I stick to the cheap jumbo rats that a friend gets me. One a week in growing season in males and one a month or less in breeding season seems to keep the males healthy- with appropriate fat stores etc. I feed the females now 12-13 ft (guestimate but they are fat adult girls now) weekly all year long unless they are gravid. they eat 3 jumbo rats at a pop and would likely be bigger again if fed all they could eat or significantly larger prey items.

if you want small, you need to work with the animals from a small size and adjust feeding to make sure they are healthy but not aggressively fed. in captivity there isnt nearly as much chance for stimulation or exercise. you must feed them smaller food and less frequently and take them out a lot to provide a lifestyle that makes them trust you and not feel that every interaction is food coming in.

i have four young females that hatched 2/05 that are still close to 3 ft in length and are eating 1 average adult mouse a week (every other week in the cooling down period over the last two months- but always with hot spots) for maintenance growth- they are looking fine with plenty of fat stores.

i hope this helps

Winslow

I have some large constricor experience, mostly with burmese and rock pythons. I consider 15ft for a female small for a retic. Any thing 10 to 15 feet would be cool. It's the 22ft, 250lb animals that I am trying to steer clear of. Retics are so intelligent and beautiful, I would love to have one. I've thought about just getting a male tiger.

If you consider 15' small then a male Jampea would fit that order. My male is in the 14' range and as I said 5 1/2 years old. His growth has slowed these last couple of years.

Jim